BCI Quality Control & Process Improvement 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In a PDCA cycle applied to BC plan testing, which phase involves comparing exercise results against pre-defined success criteria?
- Plan
- Do
- Check (Correct answer)
- Act
Correct answer: Check
The Check phase evaluates actual results against objectives set during the Plan phase.
Question 2: Which quality tool is MOST effective for identifying the root cause of repeated BC plan activation failures?
- Control chart
- Pareto chart
- Fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram (Correct answer)
- Scatter diagram
Correct answer: Fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram
A fishbone diagram systematically maps potential causes across categories such as people, process, and technology to identify root causes.
Question 3: A BC manager notices that post-incident reports consistently cite communication breakdown as a factor. The BEST process improvement response is to:
- Replace the communications team
- Add a communication audit step to the BIA process
- Revise the communication procedures and test them in the next exercise (Correct answer)
- Archive the reports for future reference
Correct answer: Revise the communication procedures and test them in the next exercise
Revising and then testing communication procedures closes the identified gap through actionable improvement followed by validation.
Question 4: The concept of 'shift-left' quality in BC program management means:
- Moving quality checks to earlier stages of BC plan development (Correct answer)
- Reducing quality controls to speed up recovery
- Shifting responsibility left to front-line staff only
- Delaying quality reviews until after an incident
Correct answer: Moving quality checks to earlier stages of BC plan development
Shift-left embeds quality validation earlier in the development lifecycle, catching defects before they reach live plans.
Question 5: A capability maturity model (CMM) rating of Level 2 for a BC program indicates:
- Processes are optimized and continuously improving
- Processes are defined and documented enterprise-wide
- Processes are repeatable but largely project-specific (Correct answer)
- Processes are ad hoc and unpredictable
Correct answer: Processes are repeatable but largely project-specific
CMM Level 2 (Managed) indicates processes are planned and tracked at the project level but not yet standardized across the organization.
Question 6: Which metric BEST measures the effectiveness of a business continuity exercise?
- Number of participants
- Percentage of objectives achieved versus objectives set (Correct answer)
- Duration of the exercise
- Number of action items logged
Correct answer: Percentage of objectives achieved versus objectives set
Comparing achieved outcomes to pre-set objectives directly measures whether the exercise delivered its intended quality assurance value.
Question 7: When applying Six Sigma DMAIC to a BC recovery process, the 'Measure' phase primarily involves:
- Implementing solutions to reduce recovery time
- Piloting improved recovery procedures
- Collecting baseline data on current recovery performance (Correct answer)
- Defining the problem statement and project scope
Correct answer: Collecting baseline data on current recovery performance
The Measure phase establishes a quantitative baseline of current process performance before any improvements are attempted.
BCI Quality Control & Process Improvement 2
In a PDCA cycle applied to BC plan testing, which phase involves comparing exercise results against pre-defined success criteria?